Frank Dikotter On Mao's Great Famineby Russell Roberts featuring Frank Dikötter via EconTalkHistorian Frank Dikötter of the University of Hong Kong and author of Mao's Great Famine talks about the book with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. Dikötter chronicles the strategies Mao and the Chinese leadership implemented to increase grain and steel production in the late 1950s leading to a collapse in agricultural output and the deaths of millions by starvation.

Paul VI’s Response to Margaret Sanger’s Sexual RevolutionFrancis J. PiersonIn September of 1966, Margaret Sanger, the outspoken public voice of the Sexual Revolution and founder of Planned Parenthood, died in Tucson, Arizona. Sanger was a passionate sexual libertine whose selfishness extended even towards her own family. Finding child rearing tedious, she abandoned her three children to caretakers so that she could move about in […]

Humanae Vitae: Blessed Paul VI’s MiracleJohn Paul MeenanI am hurtling in a high-speed train from Glasgow to London, with a heavy heart saying farewell to my native land, a sentiment that should live within us all. It is the memorial of Saint Charbel Maklouf, a Lebanese priest, ascetic and mystic, as well as the vigil of Saint James the Greater, whose feast […]

Humanae Vitae’s Challenge to ModernityJohn M. GrondelskiJuly 25, 2018 marks the 50th anniversary of Pope Paul VI’s encyclical, Humanae Vitae (HV). That encyclical, and its subsequent contestation in certain “Catholic” circles, has been a defining moment of the past half-century. The central teaching of HV (#12) is that there is an “inseparable connection, established by God, which man on his own initiative […]

The good news about black men in AmericaW. Bradford Wilcox, Wendy Wang, and Ronald Mincy | CNN.com Despite a portrait of race relations that often highlights the negative, especially regarding black men, the truth is that most black men will not be incarcerated, are not unemployed, and are not poor — even if black men are more likely than other men to experience these outcomes. In fact, millions of black men are flourishing in America today.

​THE PRICE OF FEMINISMBy EPPC Senior Fellow Mona CharenNational Review OnlineTo the degree that feminism gave women a boost of self-confidence, it can take a bow. But women also want and need the security of marriage and the profound fulfillment of motherhood.Read More(Buy Ms. Charen’s new book Sex Matters: How Modern Feminism Lost Touch with Science, Love, and Common Sensehere.)

The promise of ethnographic researchAparna Mathur | AEIdeas Ethnographic research is gaining popularity as a means to better understand the motivations, behaviors, and attitudes of households toward the challenges they face. This method goes beyond simple questionnaires to obtaining a richer understanding of the decisions that households face through repeated, in-depth, open-ended interviews.

A Good Man Is Still Hard To Findquoting Harvey C. Mansfield, Tunku Varadarajan via Creators SyndicateWomen have been complaining since the original Adams family was evicted from the Garden of Eden that "A good man is hard to find." Despite radical feminist mockery of the very idea of manliness, that men are natural sexual predators, most women — with very few exceptions — still want one.

For black boys, family structure still mattersW. Bradford Wilcox | Institute for Family Studies When it comes to assessing the impact of family structure on the racial gap in economic mobility between black and white boys, this new study suggests that family structure at the neighborhood level influences economic mobility for black boys, family structure at the household level influences economic mobility for black boys, and family structure in adulthood influences black boys’ household income as adults.

IF YOU STUMBLE IN THE “SUCCESS SEQUENCE,” A STRONG FAMILY CAN LIFT YOU UPBy EPPC Fellow Luma SimmsInstitute for Family StudiesWealth is not just economic, but familial—that is, someone can be rich in the strong bonds of family and community without necessarily being rich in money. For many in the immigrant subculture, the family is strong enough to withstand a misstep in the success sequence. Read More